Scripps Launches ‘Genius Kitchen’ Digital Food Brand With Akilah Hughes-Hosted Series

Scripps Networks Interactive’s digital production arm — dubbed Scripps Lifestyle Studios — is set to launch a new food-focused content brand called Genius Kitchen, which will be available across a proprietary website, mobile app, and array of social channels.

Targeting food-loving millennials aged 21 to 35 and officially launching next month, Genius Kitchen’s first original series is called GK Now, a weekly talk show hosted by YouTube comedian Akilah Hughes and Whistle Sports creator Mike Lockyer. On the show, Hughes and Lockyer will discuss crazy food trends and pop culture. Genius Kitchen will also comprise food news, games, recipe videos, cooking tips, and other social-first viral videos. And fans will be able to send recipes from Scripps’ vast library of more than 500,000 dishes via Genius Kitchen directly to their devices.

“Digital food video is exploding, and younger generations are hungry for new and unique ways to ‘watch what they eat,’ so to speak,” said Kathleen Finch, Scripps’ chief programming, content, and brand officer. “No other media company is better positioned to introduce this level of investment in premium food content.”

Scripps’ SVP of digital brand, Rich Lacy, has been tapped to oversee content development for Genius Kitchen, and production will be run out of dedicated kitchen studio in downtown Manhattan.

Scripps is the owner of HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, Cooking Channel, and other lifestyle-oriented media powerhouses. Scripps Lifestyle Studios, launched in 2015, delivered over 5 billion video views in 2016, and has already clocked more than 12.6 billion views this year.